Together We Stand, Apart They Burn
by Juliemaggie
Summary: Over a century ago, Jasper Whitlock's then undying loyalty to Maria had wavered, allowing Nettie and Lucy to live. What he didn't know was that by allowing them to live, he'd subjected them to an even worse fate. And now, they are seeking revenge against him. Usual pairings, not a HEA. AU. Gets quite twisted - don't read if triggered by violence.
1. Prologue

**Note: This was posted a few hours ago but was removed due to someone going around claiming new stories to be violating ToS. For the record, if any of my stories are doing so, please inform me and include which clause I am violating :)**

* * *

"He's in a little corner north west of here. A little place called Forks." A sweet, angelic bell of a voice spoke softly. Bella knew not to look up at her mistresses, never look at them was the ultimate rule within the small servitude she was a part of.

Bella's breath was visible in front of her as she awaited a response. Years ago, when she was just a child, her mistresses had come for her. Not specifically, they simply wanted servants to take care of their needs. Being raised by malicious, constantly bloodthirsty vampires wasn't ideal, but it was all the young girl knew. Her life, and those of the few other children that were taken as well as her (and had survived the harsh years) belonged to them alone. Slaves - awaiting death or being turned into a vampire.

Her life was that of a nomad - always moving, always searching. Her mistresses thirsted only for blood and vengeance, for what had been done to them.

Finally, small creaks were heard within the heavy darkness, before a laugh that sounded half choked came from one of the mistresses.

Bella released another small breath of air, that laugh meant she had done well.

"At last," Mistress Nettie spoke, "We shall have our revenge against the last of them." Her voice was guttural, likely due to the missing chunks of her neck. No one spoke it and had never seen them fully, but they all knew the story of their mistresses. Mistress Lucy had obliged Bella and the other slaves one night when they were still young, and they had never been the same as before.

"Prepare your siblings,-" The mistresses had long ago adopted thinking of their slaves as being such. "We leave immediately."

Bella bowed, then moved to leave the pair in the darkness which they loved.

"Wait a moment," Mistress Lucy spoke just as Bella reached the door. Although the words were nearly silent, Bella had long ago grown accustomed to the quietness of her more reclusive Mistress. "Is there a mate? A coven?"

Bella turned with her head bowed expertly. "Yes, Mistress. He holds a mate and a coven - six members not including himself."

"Such a large number?" Mistress Nettie coughed out in an accusatory tone. "You lie! Vampires cannot live in such a number without killing each other."

"Mistress," Bella spoke quietly and slowly, awaiting a chance to give explanation. She had preempted that they may ask such - as she had wondered just same and she was only human. When her Mistresses made no move to harm her, she took it as permission to speak. "They drink only the blood of animals - it allows them to remain calmer. They even attend the local high school - constantly surrounded by humans without incident."

Bella visibly flinched when Mistress Nettie snarled gutturally - it sounded much more like a gurgled, angry choke. However, from what Bella could tell, Mistress Lucy was able to restrain her.

"How came you such knowledge? Why is so much known to you?" Mistress Lucy's voice was maliciously curious - she too naturally doubted the girl, but she knew the child to be loyal.

Bella felt a nervous lump form in her throat and had to swallow past it to allow for speech. "One of the male coven members took a liking to me - he believes we are mates and wishes to change me himself. But, I am forever loyal only to you." Falling on one knee, she bowed her head even lower. "He believes me to be visiting my mother presently. I think he could be easily manipulated to our cause, but I assume he must die for being associated with _him_."

Her mistresses gave no answer, simply gave instruction to prepare all under the servitude - the humans and the vampires.

* * *

"Do we use this little snack to our advantage?" Lucy spoke softly, not looking to her old friend. Both were sensitive about the way they now appeared.

"No," Nettie answered bluntly. "I shall remove him from her mind before we leave, and hear no more of mates. Once this is done, our revenge will be over and our rule will begin."

Lucy nodded softly, knowing the noises made by her doing so will be good enough for her friend.

Together they had rebelled, together they had suffered, together they will rule. Finally.

* * *

 **Hello!**

 **It's been a long while since I've posted here, and while I intend to edit and complete some of my stories, my main focus will be upon this for the time being.**

 **This is not a HEA story in any usual sense. Just saying that now. I think this should be completed in a relatively short time - two more chapters maybe? But they'll be much longer than this!**

 **Feel free to review - especially to point out any mistakes I've made! I haven't a Beta reader, but I do proof read at least three times. Even then mistakes slip through, annoyingly. PMs are also welcome - I will answer any and all questions. The plot is a little iffy even for me so feel free to ask and I'll try to explain :)**

 **J**


	2. Second Prologue

**Kinda gore/plain icky warning - I guess? I wouldn't consider it that bad but I watch horror films like how my best friend watches Disney films! This isn't really a necessary read - really just an explanation of what happened in the past.**

 **1880**

Two blonde heads hung low beside each other, shrouded in the dark shadow that Jasper Whitlock's body cast. They gripped tightly to each other's hands, awaiting a death they hoped would be swift.

Their small, loyal army lay in scraps around them - the whole army hadn't stood a chance against the mighty Jasper, Maria's right hand.

Time spun by, and slowly Lucy raised her red eyes, "Why do you hesitate?"

Within his eyes, she could see the turmoil - he had killed hundreds, maybe thousands of other vampires - surely they were no different? No, they were different because he knew them well, had worked alongside them and even shared a laugh on very rare occasion. And so, he couldn't bring himself to do it. His eternal love for Maria was strong, yet... he simply couldn't kill his friends.

"Leave," Jasper forced out, finally. "Never been seen by Maria or I again." Even his thick southern drawl couldn't hide the promise of a slow, painful death if they went against his orders. The pair weren't stupid - they took the warning and were off within a second.

Jasper gathered the bodies, placing the head of a blonde, dead newborn at the top before setting the pile ablaze. Maria soon came to watch the pile burn down to ashes with a happy little grin.

Yet, what Jasper didn't see was her hand reach into the flames and pull out the very head he'd told her belonged to Nettie. The matted curls she could almost excuse - but this dirty blonde colour? This was not Nettie's white blonde locks.

Maria's blood red eyes turned to her most trusted soldier with a sickened look of betrayal and hatred, yet it fell only upon his back which was walking away to deal with an angered newborn. He'd lied to her.

 _No matter_ , she thought as she carelessly plopped the head back into the flames, then began licking her burn. _I will soon find them, a_ _nd deal with them myself._

Her small mouth turned upwards in a gleeful smile. Oh yes, she would have great fun with the women she had once considered her sisters.

Maria had found them within a matter of hours. Simple manipulations of Jasper had enabled her three weeks of time to enjoy those who had betrayed her. Oddly, she didn't count Jasper among them. He was near completely wrapped around her fingers, and had been the one to alert her to Nettie and Lucy's schemes. A momentarily lax in maliciousness could be easily forgiven presently.

Maria had found a nice little pit for her 'sisters', and kept them firmly restrained by ten newborns. Their unwillingness to join the fighting, or even create newborns, had slowly caused them to become weak. Especially with their gluttony, and when compared to the strength of a newborn.

Bright crimson eyes looked into each darkening pair of eyes - it appeared her sister's hadn't fed in a while. Such a shame, she thought with a smirk.

"Rip them apart." Maria's order was faithfully followed through - Lucy and Nettie soon lay in pieces. Their screams and looks of terror and horror had lasted only a few seconds. Not long enough for Maria. "Half of you, leaves us. Bring back a snack."

With a look of disgust, Maria crushed a piece beneath her bare foot. "Piece them back together." With much difficulty, the newborns followed the order. Many pieces had scattered all over, and by the time the pair had regained conscious control over their bodies, they looked like something seen only in a smashed mirror.

Maria smiled nicely at the pair as her newborns crudely examined each piece, some finding where the piece went while others simply threw it over their shoulder and moved on to the next. The miserable pair let out growls and snarls where they could, but knew to not disturb the newborns repair work too much.

"Fetch some water, one of you." Maria said when the pair were fully reconstructed - albeit with part of Lucy's forehead missing, being the part Maria had crushed. Her mind quickly formulated her plan, and she began mentally drawing up the list of the needed materials. "And several matches and flints - any you can find."

The first newborns returned shortly after with two humans in tow. The hungry pair had to be restrained from going for them - their burning throats pushing away all thoughts of reason.

"Have you earned the reward of food?" Maria mused quietly, looked directly at an enraged Nettie. Nettie gathered as much venom as she could in her mouth, and was able to spit it so far it hit Maria on the cheek. Maria snarled in response, but gathered herself. "No, then! Newborns, have a snack."

The humans were quickly devoured, the hungry pair not even allowed a drop.

This same routine went on for several more days - with Maria slowly crushing another piece of the pair each time she ordered them ripped apart.

After a week, she began to burn the pair. She started, by burning off all of Lucy's hair - including her eyebrows and eyelashes. Due to vampires being quite flammable, Maria had kept the water on hand. No need to allow for the pain to end too quickly.

Next, she repetitively stuck Nettie's arms within flames, alternating between fire and water to prolong the torture.

After two weeks, Maria was beginning to grow bored. Near mad with hunger, her play things had stopped screaming so much. Finally, she allowed them some food. However, this gave her a wicked idea.

Very slowly the next day, she had personally removed all of Nettie's teeth. And, for good measure when Nettie went to bite her one last time, Maria personally ripped away a chunk of Nettie's throat. With a wide grin, Maria had slowly let the pieces of Nettie fall into a small fire. After the fire had died down, Maria had gathered the ashes curiously. She looked towards Nettie at first, but then decided upon Lucy instead. Gathering as much of the ashes as she could, she shoved it all down Lucy's throat.

The once sweet vampire had been left coughing it up for hours.

Finally, Maria's three weeks with the pair were up. As saddened as she was by this, she was also rather proud of her work.

Lucy had no hair, had lost an eye as well as most of her forehead and an average of three digits to her hands. Most of one of her legs had been torn away, making walking difficult. The majority of her skin had been burned or ripped away. Overall, she was a meek shadow of her formed beautiful self.

Meanwhile, Nettie was arguably the worst off - comparable to only a beast. Her arms appeared as though they would crumble to ash at any moment (but as least, she had all her fingers). Her back and torso had been the main focus, causing her to lose a lot of height and be completely unable to stand up straight. Her face was completely misshapen, with many chunks gone from around her mouth, neck and chest. Her hair, at least, remained unscathed.

Maria sighed, "Such sadness that this is the end of our time together." Almost affectionately, Maria ran her hand through Nettie's hair.

For many decades after, Maria kept the pair locked away and under the guard of at least ten fresh new horns and five loyal ones. She kept the starved and allowed them to go mad with it. Only when she was in a good mood, and they'd behaved, did she allow them a small snack.

Eventually, Maria's power began to weaken. The pair didn't know, but that without Jasper leading her armies Maria was weak. And so, after Jasper left her, Maria no longer had the resources to keep the pair locked away. Naïvely, she believed they'd be completely unable to fend for themselves and would soon die anyways. What could a pair of destroyed vampires possibly be capable of?


	3. Chapter 1 - Perfectly Wrong

Not a sound was made, not even the shuffling of a shoe or fiddling of a finger. They were children raised by cruel, twisted vampires - they were disciplined, in control and highly lethal as one. Trained from birth in combat, and further trained for those who had been reborn as vampires. The perfect army - loyal to the grave or the fire.

Eight vampires and ten humans would've seemed pathetic to Nettie and Lucy when they were in their prime, but now this was considered a large army. In their opinion, the world had become so pathetically small.

The large coven (if it could be called that) lived within the ruins of an old manor house in New Orleans, long ago abandoned after it had clearly been stripped of anything of value. It hadn't been a nice life for any of them, but was considered almost pleasant to those who had been changed. The humans would much more have preferred a nice warm bed and heating in the winter, but knew never to complain. They could become food at any moment.

"Turn them all." Lucy's near silent voice seemed to echo out loudly in the empty space, before all that could be heard was screams!

Bella was the last, panicking against her instinct and her knowledge that she'd be eaten for running, for being a traitor. Her gasping breaths managed to drown out most of the sounds - until her eyes made contact with Mistress Nettie.

The Mistress smiled in her way, almost sweetly, then leapt towards Bella with speed nearly matching a newborn. "You shall forget the ones you hold in your heart, and become loyal only to your Mistresses once again." Her voice somehow could be heard by Bella above the screams and her own breaths. She thought of his face in an attempt to treasure it - thinking of the time he'd smiled softly with only a little bit of teeth showing, while gently, even for a human, he'd caressed her cheek.

As Lucy and another two vampires bit into her, a single word drifted from her lips. "Edward."

* * *

Opening her eyes, all Bella could remember was blond hair and blood red eyes. Slowly, foggily, her human memories returned. She knew what she was, who she was and why she was this way.

Internally, she felt a strange turmoil. Part of her was extremely loyal to her Mistress, and was proud to finally be a vampire and be able to serve them to the best of her ability. Another part of her, one she couldn't quite connect to, seemed to be a small flame of hatred. A burning of hunger overtook her before she could figure out the fuel for the flame, and she began instead her first hunt.

By day seven of all the Mistresses children being vampires, they had been trained to a well enough standard to regain the disciplined they'd excelled in as humans. With humans being such an easy source of food, their hunger had been kept well quenched.

"Children," Nettie spoke in her guttural and gargling voice. "It is time to finish the revenge that has weighed heavily upon your mothers. It is time you perform your filial duties to us, and repay your debts. We took you in when no one else wanted you, cared for you, and now have given you eternal life! Repay us now, kill the vampire Jasper Whitlock and all those who stand with him, and you shall be free to live your lives independently. After this, children, you will be adults allowed to go and become Gods in this world from our teachings."

"Yes, Mistress." All eighteen voices spoke as one beautiful voice.

"You have been taught how you're meant to think from now on. Make no clear decisions, follow only our orders but allow yourselves to be indecisive. Aim to go to different areas, act as if we are dispersing you into the world to fend for yourselves. We will meet you where discussed in a week - be careful when eating, as you have been taught."

"Yes, Mistress." With that, both Mistresses disappeared.

Bella watched her siblings all disappear. Idly, she wondered how her Mistresses had gained such an intel on the enemy. Perhaps there was a spy in their coven? Being curious by nature, and still holding onto her very human trait of being caring, she chose instead to go straight to where they were meant to meet. Her loyalty, and discipline in following all commands, fought against her other traits strongly. However, she decided, she'd technically still be following her Mistresses orders if she left Forks after a few days then went back for the meeting day. She was being indecisive - and most definitely just dispersing!

It took her a day and a half to reach Forks, mostly due to having to make quite frequent stops to calm her thirst. Upon arrival in the cover of night, she realised she looked very vampiric - hair a mess, clothes torn and blood covered. She might as well be walking around with her mouth snarling and a cape around her!

Bella broke into the school to use their showers, appearing as nothing but a momentary glitch on the CCTV. It was here she caught the scents of five vampires, and she was most delighted in herself by being able to tell them apart right away. She couldn't put names to the scents, she only knew the leader was called Jasper Whitlock. Also, she knew they were animal-only eaters - a vampire vegetarian diet equivalent? Idly, she wondered if they ate the meat of the animals too.

Finding some good enough clothes to fit her in the lost and found of the school, she scouted out the rest of the school for another vampire scent. Surely, she'd know the spy, but maybe they'd only been gone a few weeks - during the time she was apparently in a feverish state before her Mistresses decided to change all their children. She couldn't at all remember being ill, but some of her other siblings also claimed to have the feeling they'd forgotten a lot upon 'awakening'. But, she knew all her siblings scents fairly well even as a human - and it hadn't been long enough for all traces of the scent to be gone.

It was while wandering the halls of Biology that she caught it - her own scent.

She thought it peculiar, but it was at this time she realised it was nearly dawn and quickly left the school building and disappeared into the woods. Though she very well knew that the myth of vampires exploding in the light was false, she didn't favour the way her skin glowed and gave away her location. So, she found a small cave within a large pile of rocks to hide in for a while.

* * *

"Try again, Alice!"

"No."

"Please, just one more look?"

"No, Edward." Alice slammed down the flower vase she'd been adjusting too harshly, causing it to smash and compost to splatter all over Alice. For a moment, she just stood still with her hands clenched tight, mumbling something about designer clothing. Eventually, she turned to her Coven brother. "I've told you already. Last I saw her was two weeks ago - leaving Forks to go visiting her mother. Same as you. Since then... I don't know, I don't see her making many decisions." Alice cleaned up the mess at vampire speed, but walked up to her room at human speed out of habit, with Edward right at her heels. "Everything's just black, I can hear her breathing so I know she is alive."

"Did you try seeing her mother? Where she went?" Edward asked, desperately.

"No, Edward. She's a powerful shield, she could control it as a human! Maybe her mother is an even more powerful shield... I think with Bella, proximity is a key factor. Remember, I could only see her after you introduced her to us." Alice sighed, worried for her friend and hopefully future Coven member, but she just had a feeling she was completely fine. "Now get out of my room so I can get ready for school, again!"

Edward walked like a grumpy teenager down the stairs, meeting Jasper at the bottom but avoiding his eye. "I'm going to head into school early. You two can take the car."

"Actually, Edward, I was just wondering if you'd seen my jacket? I thought Alice had stolen if, but she hasn't seen it either." Jasper's old accent had nearly been completely washed away with time.

Edward shrugged. "Don't really do clothes, brother."

With that, he sped out the house and into the trees. His legs carried him faster than usual, it felt. He allowed his feet to carry him to where he needed to go.

However, as he grew nearer the school, he found himself slowing. Everything was the same here and yet something felt different about where he was. With a sigh, he turned back and decided to go through the town at human speed rather than be ridiculously early to school.

Just outside of his senses from where he'd stopped and turned back, was where Bella had settled herself in.


	4. Chapter 2 - Inadequately Right

When Edward eventually reached school on foot, still ten minutes early, he nearly toppled over his own feet at the scent that bombarded him wherever he went. Unused to it again, he had to fight against his hunger for the first few lessons, wishing he'd gone hunting that morning instead of taking an extended walk.

He was pretty sure he was going to give half the school nightmares if he kept walking around with, what he could only assume to be, coal black eyes. Everyone was giving him stranger looks than usual, and avoiding him in corridors as if he was carrying a gun. But every worry of that flooded away while he was near Biology and finally twigged what his hunger-clouded brain couldn't immediately comprehend - Bella was here!

Or, at least had been. Her scent was a little old, suggesting she'd been walking the school corridors at night. He couldn't fathom why.

True realisation of his stupidity didn't hit him until lunch though. All his siblings were sitting stiffly, even for vampires, as if waiting for an oncoming outburst they'd need to quickly calm. Alice's panicked eyes, and the sudden vision of Bella crawling into a small cave (that he actually knew) floated from her brain into his. Seriously, he still didn't get it. Not until, in the vision, Bella settled herself in to get comfortable and faced the entrance of the cave - Alice's perspective in the vision.

Bright red eyes seemed to stare straight into his soul, accusing, angry and confusion.

"No," It was whispered, completely inaudible to the humans darting around his frozen frame in the entrance to the cafeteria, yet it felt as though he'd shouted it. The feeling of nausea and breathlessness came over him (he knew it was all in his head, but began hyperventilating none the less), his hands shook from emotions he couldn't pinpoint. Next thing he knew, Jasper was dragging him out to the school car park, and Alice was signing all five of them out with family tragedy as an excuse.

Family tragedy. It sounded wrong yet so right to him. She was a part of his family. He'd started to form ideas of loving her further, perhaps even in an emotional and physical relationship (since he'd never had one), marrying her and changing her himself. If she'd consented, of course. He was a gentlemen after all.

The ideas of giving her the pampered lifestyle he felt she secretly wanted, and in his opinion perfectly deserved, flooded away from him. She was a vampire, they could now be together forever if that was what she wanted. But, she'd had the chance at human experiences neither of them had had, and how he so wanted to give them to her.

If he could've wept, he would've, as he was taken home by Jasper like a little child being picked up by their parents.

It wasn't until well into the night his family let him leave the house - hopeful that the night would hide anything stupid he did.

* * *

Idly, Bella picked some mud out of her nails. She was quite proud of herself for not getting her clothes dirty yet, besides a bit of dust from the rocks she sat on. Her nails had paid the muddy price, but she could hear running water not far from her so she wasn't too bothered.

A glance out the little cave showed she still had a few hours until it was dark enough for her to comfortably go out. It hadn't been that sunny of a day, being completely overcast, but she still hadn't wanted to take any risks where the infamous Jasper Whitlock was concerned.

Bella shivered, in fear. All her life, she'd feared her Mistresses; it had ensured she now respected them, and knew not to have to fear them unless she did wrong by them. However, the horrifying stories Mistress Lucy would sometimes whisper in the night still gripped her heart in terror.

The Life of Jasper Whitlock, the Tiger of the South.

She was lost in her thoughts, trying to remember all the tales Mistress Lucy had told them at night. They were fuzzy, as she had been quite young for a few, but she think she managed to commit them well enough to her vampire memory. She could always request Mistress Lucy tell her again after all this was over.

Oh, she remembered, she couldn't do that. After the war, her Mistresses had said they would be free. The thought of suddenly being alone almost terrified her, and reminded her of why she was in Forks in the first place.

Leaving the little cave behind, she retraced her tracks back to the school. It was her only lead to the enemy, she just hoped her shield power was good enough to keep her hidden. With the intense hunger she'd had for the first few days on her rebirth, and the weeks she'd spent being ill beforehand, she assumed her power was quite out of practice.

For years, she hadn't known she was any different to her siblings. It wasn't until she was 8 and her Mistresses brought home a new vampire sister that they found out she had a power. Her new sister had the power to influence another person actions, with or without them noticing if she wanted. At the time, Bella's sister had yet to have time to practice her gift, and so it was obvious if she was controlling someone.

Her Mistresses were having Bella's new sister practice her gift quite often, one day Bella happened to be the test subject yet nothing happened.

After further experimentation, the Mistresses trained Bella to use her gift even as a human. If she knew the name of someone, she could allow them into her shield and either protect them or allow them into her head. If she didn't know their name, she naturally registered them as a stranger and blocked them. As a human, she could only block mentally if she didn't know them, but had found she could momentarily physically shield herself if she knew them.

She had just under a week still, she could stay a few days and practice her skill on some humans. In theory, her ability to physically shield herself should have improved, but she couldn't tell without someone telling her. For that, she needed someone she knew.

The only option to her was to hope she was correct in there being a spy at the house of the enemy.

With that concluded, she hunted out the scents of the enemy a nd carefully followed their trail until se could just hear them talking. Climbing up a tall tree to hide in the canopy, she carefully settled in to watch for one of her siblings.

* * *

Two hooded figures of a muddy brown stood as statues in a large clearing somewhere in Canada. They were waiting, rather impatiently. Yet, they already waited well over one hundred years. They could wait a few moments longer.

"They're not coming." Nettie eventually choked out.

Lucy shook her head. "They will - either to kill us, join us or give us permission. They have to come, to do otherwise would be an act against their consolidation. The Romanians would leap upon it faster than a newborn to their first meal!"

Nettie nodded in understanding, then her ears picked up the sound of approaching feet. "You are right again, sister." She tried to straighten up a little, her gargolian posture always felt to be a hindrance to her in such situations.

Three figures of red and black floated slowly towards the mucky pair. Aro, Jane and Alec.

"Dear Nettie, Lucy. Our greetings to you." Aro's soft and icy voice stretched across the few feet between them once the three halted.

"Aro," Both vampires greeted back.

Jane's eye twitched, and suddenly Nettie was on the ground screaming and writhing! Just as quickly as the attack began, it ended.

Aro's smile faltered a little. "I see your shield is not with you... Girls, you didn't lie to us, did you?"

Lucy helped Nettie to her feet, and took over the talking even if it was the most difficult for her. "We wouldn't dare lie to you, when you can look at her in our eyes for yourself." Previously, Aro has refused looking into their minds personally after hearing of their powerful shield. He wanted his first sighting of her to be with his own eyes. "You will receive her once the battle is done. As agreed, if you permit the battle."

Aro sighed wistfully. "My friend Carlisle, he's a good man. However, he harbours many powerful vampires in his Coven. It's in my personal interest that they happen to... suddenly disappear."

Nettie and Lucy bowed their heads, "Understood."

Aro clapped his hands with a grin. "Excellent, so glad to have two loyal Queens."

* * *

 **A** **nyone else chuckle at Edward the 100+ year old virgin?**


	5. Chapter 3 - Twisted, Humourful Insanity

**Guest - Thank you! We'll just have to wait and see :3**

 **This is just a chapter to show the dynamic between the Mistresses, and give a little update on their mental states. Not a necessary read, but I'm interested to hear thoughts on this. I'll be off questioning my own sanity!**

"Loyalty." The gurgled word sounded out loudly in the now empty house. Lucy was attempting to feed Nettie, who only wanted to angrily rant. "He wouldn't know loyalty if it personified itself as a pole and was shoved up his arse."

"Mhm," Lucy hummed. Almost delicately, she ripped off the arm of the dead human child in her lap, and offered it to Nettie.

Instead, Nettie stood to limp around the room in a pacing pattern. "His whole guard is forced to stay by his side with his little cocaine pet. Does he even realise nearly any human high on drugs when they are reborn with the same power? It's just a manifestation of the last of their humanity, hardly a powerful gift."

"Mhm," Lucy hummed again, combing the dead girl's pretty ginger hair. With a wistful sigh, she reflected on her lost head of locks.

Nettie began twisting a lock of her own hair between her fingers as she staggered about. "Loyalty is respect and devotion, with fear. We only fear him and his group of hippies." She made a snarling, choking noise that had Lucy momentarily look up with concern.

Looking back down, she again hummed a "mhm." She grabbed the girl's arm from the floor, pulled the flower vase that was atop the dining table she sat at towards her, emptied its contents onto the floor, and then placed the girl's arm so the blood flowed into the vase.

"Never mind," Nettie suddenly growled, falling heavily into the wooden chair across the table from Lucy. The sound had drawn Lucy's bored gaze again. "As long as the shield survives the battle, everything will be fine. We'll nearly have the whole of Northern American Continent, with some of Canada thanks to the price on her head. With our army, I'm sure we can claim back the South too. We were the best because we trained them as humans and kept those with promise. The Covens There now know nothing, just creating newborns in a conveyor belt fashion!"

Lucy's next drained "mhm" was almost completely inaudible. She loved her sister, but Nettie could talk a newborn donkey into old age within five minutes.

Silence followed for several minutes, Nettie seemingly continuing her monologue internally while Lucy continued to pluck apart the dead girl in her lap and arranging the pieces like a bouquet of flowers within the vase. It was as she was balancing the head on top that Nettie finally spoke again.

"You're being awfully quiet." Nettie coughed out.

Lucy blinked. _No shit,_ she thought, _I had the venom in my throat dried up by your teeth_! Instead of voicing her inner thoughts, she just coughed and mumbled something about some blood and dust being stuck in her throat.

Nettie leaned forward. "I was wondering what you'd say to fighting the Volturi?"

"Mhm." Lucy just hummed, and pulled out a sewing kit from within her cloak. She ripped up the dead girl's clothes and become turning them into a doll.

"The army is big enough to take the South. With the whole of the Continent, we can build and control an even greater army. It's not like there's much of a time limit for us. I don't see any Armageddon imminent." She chuckled, they'd killed a poster-holding man shouting 'the End is nigh' in plain sight earlier that day. Well, they'd pulled him into a dark alleyway. "With half the world, we can defeat the Volturi once and for all!"

"Mhm."

Nettie stood again and limped to be in front of one of the windows, looking out without seeing anything. Her focus was entirely upon what was going on in her head. "Imagine it Lucy - the whole world under our control!" She spun back around. "No one would ever hurt us again."

Momentarily, Lucy's hands stopped their work. Her mind travelled back to the time when all she knew was hunger and pain. She'd clung to every last thread and scrap of her sanity that she could. She'd spent each day hoping and praying for death or being set free. She'd nearly lost hope, but not her sanity. Nettie, however...

Clarity of mind was Lucy's only salvation, the only thing that kept her from running naked down the streets of Volterra on the sunniest day of the year. Her sanity kept her safe and alive; having had the sense during those dark times to cling to it until her final breath - if vampires had such a thing. If they did eventually get free, Nettie would need her to be able to sanely handle the situation.

Now that they had been free for a few decades, Nettie rarely had her psychotic lapses. This, was just another to add to the pile.

"What do you think, Lucy?" Nettie demanded again, slamming a hand down on the table hard enough to make a crack and an indent, but not quite enough to make it snap.

With a hard and angry look with her one eye, Lucy stared back in pure silence for some long moments. Finally, she answered; "I think you need to shut the fuck up, in case the Volturi are still spying upon us, and drink the damn food before it gets too cold." She reached up and threw out the pieces of the girl, leaving only the large vase half filled with blood.

Nettie sighed, and did as she was told, slowly and carefully pouring blood down the lowest gap in her throat.

Lucy relaxed, grabbed the head of the human girl and used her hair to stuff the human doll she'd made. She even used some to add hair to the head of the doll, making sure to only use strands without blood on them.

"Aro wouldn't know the definition of loyalty if it manifested itself before him in his very throne room!" Nettie suddenly burst out, with another slamming hand to the table not quite enough to break it in two.

Lucy sighed, this would make the fifth time Nettie had begun discussing her stupid plan. She stood, picked up the body of the woman who owned the house they were currently trespassing in - the mother of the girl - and began going through the same process she'd done for all three children. The first time Nettie had begun the conversation topic, Lucy hadn't recognised it as one of her episodes. After though, she committed herself to staying occupied for her own sanity.

As before, the only sounds she made was a small humming "mhm", and an angry outburst at the end of the discussion to make Nettie drink a little more blood.

* * *

A few days later, the astounded police simply could not piece together the deaths of this single mother, her three children, the elderly couple next door and the couple's dog! They thought at first it was some strange cult ritual, from the way the bodies had been ripped apart and drained of blood into a large flower vase. There had also been replicate dolls of each victim found at the scene near the dining room table.

The most perplexing element in the case was the complete lack of murder evidence. Both houses had up to date security cameras, yet there was no film of anyone getting into or out of either house, besides the respective families, for the days before and of the murder. There was also no forensic evidence anywhere in either house of anyone out of place. Unless it was possible for a human to chop themselves up, drain themselves into a vase, pour the blood down the sink and then dump their own body into a pile in one of the upstairs bedrooms, it had to be a murder. And yet, the camera doesn't lie.

Another freaky element to the case was the dining table. It had been smashed into two pieces, with an area of damage that looked similar to a hand shape. Evidently, someone had slapped the table so hard it had smashed apart.

Also, the letters 'Mhm' had been scratched into one side of the table.

A few days later, using fabricated evidence, the father of the three children and ex-husband to the woman was charged with six counts of murder. The police knew they'd sent an innocent man to prison for a horrendous crime, yet the perfect murder had been committed. Pandemonium has spread across the whole area, fearing this extremely twisted murderer who could commit the perfect crime. Fabricated evidence was the only way to keep the peace, the police just hoped the real murderer had been satisfied for a long while.


	6. Chapter 4 - Miles apart, a Breath Away

Within just a day, Bella had learned a lot. She knew each name, as well as some of the scents to go along with them, and so was able to block them from sensing her.

She'd been panicked when the first few ran out from the house, but since she knew their names she'd forced up her shield as powerfully as it would go. It staggered her, and made her mentally tired for hours, but she didn't hear them pick up her scent until ten minutes later. She only relaxed once they were back in their luxurious home.

The building made her hate them more - she'd grown up moving all over the country, always living in ruins and abandoned buildings. All her belongings held in a little backpack, with a big rip near the top and one strap missing, for years until she convinced one of her vampire siblings to steal a new one for her. Surviving on maybe two meals a day, never getting warm at night and gruelling days of intense exercise and training.

If she'd still been human, she guessed she might've even betrayed her Mistresses just for one night in the amazing house her enemy was wasting.

Vampires didn't need a mansion, humans did.

Not that she particularly cared for humans anymore, or had much while she was one, she only cared about her family and her Mistresses. Yet still, a part of her deeply envied everything that house stood for.

The hunger in her throat had increased tenfold over the last hour, and she'd started snapping branches in half until they were just little twigs to keep herself focused away from it. None of her siblings had appeared or been mentioned in the enemy's epicentre. Her journey was a wasted one, she decided.

Just as dawn approached on her fourth day since separating from her siblings, she put up her physical shield (there was still an enemy vampire out somewhere) and went towards the town to find out if her shield had improved to the point she didn't need to know names anymore. Also, she left her jacket behind so she could find the same tree again. Just in case.

Twenty minutes later she was well fed and had changed her shirt for one of her victims, which read "Kiss me, I'm Irish". She didn't know what Irish was, but liked the colour, and the fact it didn't have blood on.

Washing her hair in the sea, she tried to decide what to do now. Her hunting had shown that her physical shield worked without her needing to know names. Her observations had shown the enemies lived a lifestyle describable as gluttonous, and that there were none of her siblings placed here as a spy. Her instinct told her to run away and wait somewhere, anywhere else until the agreed day to attack.

Yet something was pulling her back towards that shiny, glamorous building in the woods. Desperately almost, she wanted to explore the house and leave some marks of her presence without them ever being able to sense her.

With a wicked grin, she decided to do just that.

* * *

With her shield up, she hunted down the vampire that was away from home - Rosalie - and shadowed her until they both entered the house through the garage. Feeling confident, she sat down right in the middle of the room all the vampires were in. It looked like they were having a heated discussion, and she settled down to listen with a grin.

"Her scent lead to the school, and then just random areas all over town and the woods. It's like she went back on herself, a lot." The blonde spoke, looking rather annoyed about everything, in Bella's opinion.

"She must be avoiding us for some logical reason. Whoever changed her must know about us. Maybe she's trying to warn us... Alice, do you see anything at all?" Spoke Carlisle, who Bella had figured out to surprisingly be the leader. They'd all been told Jasper Whitlock was.

Alice was sitting on the floor, rocking back and forth on the ground like someone completely, mentally broken. "I can't see anything. There's nothing."

A long, very drawn out sigh filled the room from one dark shadow. "She's shielding against us, for some reason. It must've got stronger since the change." Edward, or the depressed, reclusive snowflake as Bella liked to think of him, finally voiced. The mention of another shield perked Bella's interest though, as far as she knew only the Volturi kings possessed a shield. And she rarely was allowed to leave Volterra.

Growing bored after the conversation made no more mention of this other shield, she left to go have some fun in the bedrooms. Her shield silenced her movements, so moving something made no sounds. She used this to rip up some clothes of the Fortune Teller, hoping to ruin the most precious ones.

Moving on, she entered the Mind Reader's room, and scratched up a lot of his CD's. When she found a small Disney collection, she giggled to herself and set the CD player to repeatedly play the world's most annoying song, in her opinion. (One of her vampire sisters had told her all about Disney films and songs in her spare time when Bella was a small child)

After wreaking some havoc in the rest of the bedrooms, she skipped back downstairs (scraping the wall as she went), and allowed the sound from the CD player to be heard. As all the vampires rushed upstairs, she continued happily out the front door and into the bright, noon run. At full speed, she sped away in any direction her feet chose to take her, and allowed her shield to drop away so her brain could relax.

Then she remembered about the jacket she'd left behind, and begrudgingly decided to turn back to get it.

* * *

The Cullen's all heard the music blast out loudly from Edward's room at the same time, and together they ran upstairs to find the source of the noise. Except Alice, who stayed curled up on the floor trying to focus herself through Bella's shield.

Edward ran into his room first, his eyes searching the whole room desperately hoping against hope that maybe Bella had finally shown herself. But no, no one was there.

Switching the music off, he noticed scratch marks on the CD. Curious, he check some other CD's and found them also scratched. Annoyed, he inhaled deeply but couldn't get any scents from anywhere in his room. Mostly, it was the fact someone was able to invade his home and wreck his things that annoyed him. The CD's could be repaired or replaced.

The thoughts of his family drew away his attention - they'd gone to check the rest of the house and found a lot of objects destroyed - including Rosalie and Emmett's bed, which was in need of being replaced anyway but surely one of them would have heard it getting smashed to pieces!

There were no scents to be found anywhere in the house that didn't belong to them. After Carlisle rang for a repair man to come fix the wall, Emmett ruined the wall some more to make it looked like something heavy had fallen and damaged it, and new furniture had been ordered, all the vampires reconvened back to the living room.

Just as they were beginning a panicked discussion, both Edward and Alice leapt up. "Bella!"

 _She was running gently, at ease and looking happy with a small smile gracing her lips - her hair whipping out behind her and her too-large shirt leaving little to the imagination thanks to the speed she was travelling at. After climbing a tree, she looked out towards their house with a giggle and grabbed a jacket that Alice knew to belonged to Jasper and had been missing a few days. Then, she leapt back down and ran in the direction of the sea._

Both Alice and Edward immediately sped away out the house after her.


	7. Chapter 5 - the River: a giver, a taker

Bella hummed some tune to herself as she unhooked her jacket from the top of the tree - why did she leave it so high up anyway? - and fastened it around her waist. She was wondering about going off towards Canada, or maybe trying to get to Mexico or further, since her desire to wreck up the house had been sated. The hunger of her throat was slowly starting to bother her again, so she planned to kill a few more humans. Having been taught to feed with caution though, she decided to have her last hunt in the area over at the Native American Reservation.

At a gentle jog, for a vampire, she followed the river away from the enemy house, and leapt over the river. There, she again washed her hair as well as most of her body, leaving her clothes upon the bank.

Overall in her life, being clean had been a luxury. For years, she'd simply thought her hair was a very dark brown (from all her hair's natural oils and mud caking up in it) since she'd never washed her hair, just washed her body in the river, stream, sea or pond. Even using a puddle once when they were living in the city! After her rebirth, her hair had cleaned itself to a shiny copper. By her guess, all the oils and mud had just gone away with the change.

When a fish splashed near her, she jumped a little. Then, with a small smile, she splashed her hand down in the water. Her actions eventually escalated into a giggling, splashing mess.

* * *

Edward and Alice raced through the trees as fast as they could. They didn't know the tree Bella was at, but could tell how far away it hand been from the house. They were running a perimeter that distance away from the house in the hopes they'd pick up her scent. Just when Edward was starting to lose hope, Alice was hit with another vision.

 _Bella stood over two humans, their bodies completely drained of blood already, when another human still cling to life in her arms. She was slowly, almost sensually lapping up the blood from her bite mark on his neck._

The vision didn't overly affect Alice, she'd already assumed that Bella would be drinking the blood of humans from the recent death toll in the town. However, the identities of the bodies worried her - they were Quileute's, the deaths in town had already got them in a bit of trouble. These three deaths were going to get them hung, drawn and quartered if there were any wolves about.

Edward, on the other hand, found himself strangely aroused by the sight of Bella feeding from the human, while jealousy also whizzed through him. He wanted to be the only man she held!

Just after the vision ended, they both caught Bella's scent. Together, they belted through the forest, occasionally knocking down a tree or two that they were too impatient to go around. They assumed Emmett or Jasper would fix it later. Everything would be fine once they reached Bella!

Neither of them expected the first time they were seeing her in the flesh, after so long and for the first time as a vampire, while she was splashing around naked in the river and giggling away like a toddler. Both froze, taken aback by the sight.

They watched as she spun around, at human speed really, playing with the fish that were trying desperately to avoid her, sensing she was dangerous.

Edward unfroze first. "Bella!"

Bright red, not deep brown. Shock and fear, not shyness and affection. Panic, not hope. Anger, not trust. Her eyes had changed so much to him.

In a flash, she was clothed and racing away, Edward just a few seconds behind her. "Bella, wait!"

* * *

 **Very short lil filler while I decide what happens next. What would be more angst - they meet but it doesn't change anything or they continue to just avoid each other?**


	8. Chapter 6 - Penultimate Bindings

**Guest - you spelled out exactly what I already had written! XD +sorry for not replying last chapter, meant to at the end but didn't for some reason O.o**

 **Another maybe warning here? idk what needs a warning ugh .**

* * *

"Bella, wait!"

The words seemed to take years to float to her ears, and once she heard them she halted. Her hair flew out in front of her and the jacket in her hand would've flung from her hand if she'd still been human.

The two vampires - the hyperactive, obsessive know-it all and the life-draining (excusing the pun) depressive - sped past her, unable to decrease their speed as suddenly as her. She waited, her fangs on show and her red eyes glaring out, as they spun back around the go back to her.

Mentally, she flew up her shield. An itch at the back of her neck, icy and yet like insects crawling on her, told her just what she needed to know. The mind reader was trying to poke through.

Once they were close enough, she put up her hand for them to stop. Taking a moment, she took in each of their faces, examining every tiny line or dent.

The faces meant absolutely nothing to her. But then, the high sun managed to peak through the clouds and the leaves to hit the mind reader right in the face. The shining light made her hiss and lift a hand to block away the light.

However, her action made her eyes focus in on a much softer light - the reflection gently bouncing off his bronze hair. A deep ache within her chest started up, a want to run to the pathetic golden eyed vampire a give him... a hug?!

She'd never hugged anyone before, _what the fuck_.

Retreating, the sun disappeared behind the clouds and allowed Bella back into the dull light she was more accustomed to. The spell broke, and she shoved down the feeling in her chest.

"How do you know my name?" Snarling around each word, she made it clear anything either might have seen or heard during her momentary lapse as the sun hit them meant nothing.

The mind reader looked at her with a confused expression, which strangely made Bella want to both punch and kiss him. She pushed those thoughts aside quickly. "You stayed with us a few weeks... don't you remember?"

"No." Bella clipped. "That's a lie, I've never been north of Oregon before. Tell me the truth, how do you know my name, mind reader?" She growled out his title, just to tease them; letting them know she knew a lot about them.

"That is the truth, Bella." Alice piped up. "You went off to visit your mother three weeks ago, but never came back-"

"Pft," Bella interrupted. "Who said I was talking to you anyway, pixie? Or should I say, The Major's whore?"

Alice reacted like someone threw flaming acid upon her, leaping back with a hiss. "What did you call me?"

"Alice, calm down." Edward pathetically attempted to get between the two females.

Angelic, chiming laughter came from Bella's mouth. "Do you even know the things he has done? The things he allowed others to do? He didn't just kill people during the wars, he tortured, maimed and destroyed them. Burned children alive, raped their mothers then burned them too. Yes, I call you a whore because that is all you are to him."

With that, Bella took off at a speed neither vampire could catch up to - she was a newborn and drank human blood. They were no match for her at all. Besides, after only a few paces she'd thrown up her shield at full power and vowed never to see them again until the battle that was to come in just a few more days. Her vow included personally ripping off the head of the snake's whore.

* * *

The next day, Bella sat at the top of the La Push cliffs. Well sated from her hunt of three of the tribe members, she decided to just enjoy the view before she'd dive down to clean herself.

Something new had popped up thanks to her - something she was almost personally proud of. While camped out at her tree, she'd heard the Cullen's mention 'the wolves' quite a bit, and just shoved aside that information until later. Earlier that day, while she was hunting, had been that day.

Apparently, the tribe here could sometimes take the shape of wolves at will - the gene had been triggered in one young wolf by the Cullen's presence. But her presence, a human drinker, had made two more wolves pop up like daisies.

All three had tried to interrupt her hunt, but she'd already finished drinking up all three corpses and was just disposing of the bodies as the wolvesattacked her.

They were no match for her speed, and she was able to get away with only a scratch to her leg.

With a sigh, she had to admit that it could have been a lot worse.

The low sun behind her reminded her she only had two more nights until it was time. She either left now, and arrived back early enough to justify her scent being all over the place. Or, she stayed and said she just got there early.

Jumping slowly from the cliff, she fell slowly. Her brain was thinking hard, weighing up the pros and cons. Either way, she wouldn't be punished. She was their shield, the trump card to match all trump cards. The secret weapon that could, maybe, hide a whole army as it destroyed another with ease. They had no way to punish her now she was a vampire, anyway.

As her body slipped beneath the waves, her mind was made up. Her curiosity was too strong to let her run away - she had to know how they knew her name.

* * *

Later, clothes wet and hair a mess, Bella sat outside the Cullen mansion with her arms and legs crossed. Of course, her shield was up, as she decided whether or not to really go through with this.

An hour later, they were almost all preparing to leave to live their human lives. They didn't know it yet, but today would be their last peaceful day. Could she really interrupt that with her newborn hotheadedness and questioning?

Yes. Yes, she easily could. They were the enemy, and she hated them more than the fire that would one day burn her body.

Dropping her physical shield only, she began to wait. It didn't take long for them to notice her, what with the floor to ceiling glass wall.

Haphazardly, they exited their house in groups, pairs or singles. That alone got on Bella's nerves, who had been raised in intense discipline and had always marked in perfect single file with the rest of her siblings.

"I just want the truth on how you know my name. In return, I won't kill you." _Yet_. She sent a glare right at the pixie's head, choosing her as the first target once the battle began.

The actual leader, Carlisle, stepped forward to answer her. "You visited Forks some weeks ago, and came to our house looking lost and confused. There was nothing medically wrong with you besides needing more nutrition and a good wash. After we helped you, you asked to stay for a little while, as you'd been backpacking a few weeks and had nowhere to for a few weeks until your flight home. Then Edward came home and he realised you were his mate, as well as his singer as he very nearly attacked you. So, we then had to explain what we were, and after you found out we went to school you opted to go to just to see what it was like as you'd only ever been homeschooled. At the time, you still seemed quite terrified and were rejecting the mate bond. After a week at school, you nearly got run over while walking back here but luckily Edward saved you. After which, you stopped rejecting the mating bond, and we taught you all we knew about your shield gift - which I assume has only grown strong since your change. A few weeks later, you flew out to your mother with the promise to be back in a few days or a week, but you never returned. That is, until now."

Bella had actually listened, patiently to the story. Her mind ticked over, she could accept this information temporarily and try to befriend these vampires again - glean as much information out of them as to what they'll be doing tomorrow. However, that risked her getting too comfortable and revealing too much. Or, she could call them out for being the liars they were, but that could also risk her mouth running away without her brain to filter out what shouldn't be said.

What to do, what to do...

Her blood red eyes raised from the ground the meet the amber of Edward's - her apparent mate. Searching inside herself, at first she felt nothing. There was no pull, no flame, no memories. Not even the strange desire she'd had the day before of giving him a hug. With an even deeper search inside herself, she thought for a moment she could hear Mistress Nettie whisper the words "loyal only to your Mistresses once again". But as she tried to focus on that part of herself again, there was only silence.

There was nothing at all within her except hatred as she stared deeply into the eyes of her "mate". Slowly, her stare morphed into a glare.


	9. Chapter 7 - the Warlords are Coming

Leaving them covered in the mud from her upwards spin away from them, Bella ran from the lying Coven of vampires. Her Mistresses were right, they were nothing but the enemy. She'd seen with her own, improved eyes exactly what had been done to her Mistresses. For years, she heard the damage that had been done to them, cringed at every creak and crack that came from their bodies, and wept after hearing the tale of what happened to them.

Together, her Mistresses had got revenge against the one they'd once regarded as their sister, until doubt drove them to want to leave her. At the time, they'd just wanted to settle and live their lives - they'd lost their mates and had little to live for. They just wanted their own land, and a Coven to live within peacefully.

Ironically, that's exactly what their brother had ended up with after all that time - while they were tortured beyond recognition, he had been making happy family with a mate and a family. While they were being burned and maimed, slowly losing their sanity, he'd converted to gluttony and become weak within his rich life. At least, Bella hoped he was weak. She wanted to see her Mistresses rip him apart themselves; he needed to be weak for them to be able to do that.

Her feet carried her far away, for hours and hours she just sprinted as far away as she could. She didn't have her physical shield up, she didn't see much point, she'd lost the lazy vegetarians hours ago with her intensely increased speed.

She only stopped when a familiar voice called out to her, "Bella?"

* * *

Edward watched her leave; Jasper, Rosalie and Emmett had raced after her, but he knew there was no point. With a lost expression on his face, he turned to Carlisle for advise. The ancient vampire just shook his head, a little lost too.

Alice was clutching at her head again, unable to see anything yet putting in a lot of effort to do so. While Bella had been human, Alice could just about push through her barrier when she turned it on. Now though, her shield was stronger than vampire skin. Alice's pushing was just hurting the both of them, so Edward tried to tune out his sister.

He retired to his room, wishing her smell filled the room as much as her presence did. He was almost tempted to throw away all the CD's Bella had ruined, but since she'd touched them he felt an obsessive need to protect them.

 _Where are you?_ His thoughts turned back in time, to just a few weeks ago when she accepted him into her heart. Where was that adorable little human, that had looked at him with perfect chocolate orbs of love? Was she still inside that angry vampire, who looked at him only with a look of disgust within bright red eyes? Was his mate truly lost to vampirism?

Then something twigged - how had she known so much about Jasper? Thinking back to her outburst in front of just him and Alice, how had she known Alice and Jasper weren't truly mates, just companions? They'd never told her about that, she'd always wanted to know as little as possible about his family - only talking to and about himself once she accepted him.

With her claim of not knowing them, and definitely not believing the truth of the last few weeks, how could she know about Jasper.

Hearing his brothers and Rosalie return, he sped downstairs. He didn't know what was going on, but he knew he needed to speak with Jasper.

"Who knows about your past life, Jasper?" Loudly, Edward interrupted the obvious talk of them not being able to catch up to Bella. She was faster and stronger, sand obviously not with them, so of course they hadn't caught up to her.

"Peter and Charlotte, Maria, maybe some of the newborns at the time I left her army if she kept them alive... why?" Jasper looked at his brother, perplexed, sensing panic and stress rolling off him in strong waves.

"Is that all? I think Bella's sire is someone from your past - how else could she know so much about you? I didn't tell her."

Jasper thought hard, but eventually shook his head. "There's not really anyone else. Maria is too busy continuing her wars, Pete and Char wouldn't tell anyone about those details of my life... and the newborns wouldn't have known what I'd done before they were born."

Alice walked forward, placing a hand gently on Jasper's elbow. "Who would refer to you as 'The Major'?"

"Just Maria..." Jasper's voice trailed off as realisation hit him. Edward saw two beautiful vampire faces appear in his mind, both southern blonds. "And Nettie and Lucy."

"Who?" Edward asked at the same time Alice gasped out, "I thought they were dead?"

"Maria's sisters, they helped her form the newborn army." Jasper answered Edward, then turned to Alice. "No, I let them live. I couldn't kill some of my greatest friends at the time. It was like trying to kill Pete."

Edward released a long breath. "I think, maybe, you're going to regret extending that kindness to them."


	10. Chapter 8 - Swift Death

Three dark shadows walked slowly through the trees. Their heads lowered, two led the way while one walked loyally behind the pair.

Bella had told her Mistresses everything she knew, of course. Nettie had allowed herself a very prideful moment over her mastery of her gift - she had been able to remove all feels and memories of Bella's mate without upsetting the bond on her side! Idly, Nettie wondered if that meant that instead another vampire would be fated to be Bella's.

Not that Nettie or Lucy really cared - because of this loyal soldier and daughter, they were able to be allowed to finish their revenge. Truly, they had little idea nor care for why the Volturi allowed it; they knew it wasn't just for the prize of the greatest shield known to exist. Aro has specifically requested that they leave his old friend, only, alive until he arrived at the end of the battle. Specifically, he would arrive once the fires were lit.

As the three walked, more shadows fell into place behind the two leading. At dawn, when they touched their feet to the soil of the clearing Bella told them of, all twenty shadows stood in perfect formation. They would be visible from where the enemy was hiding, and would wait in perfect solidarity as statues until they came out to fight.

Two hours later, they were all shining in the full morning light, slightly obscured by the thin layer of clouds. Impatient as ever, Nettie gave a signal and all eighteen newborns gave off a viscous cry! Some screamed, some bellowed out war cries, others cursed and shouted threats.

For a moment they were just undisciplined newborns screeching for a fight!

With another wave of her hand, Nettie stopped the ruckus and the newborns returned to their disciplined, upright lines.

Another hour later, the smell of other vampires and wet dog filled the area.

The Cullen Coven stood as one, not very uniformly collected or stanced but still clearly together as a unit. Beside them, a little way away but still obviously with them, crouched three large wolves. They must have thought they were hidden amongst the underbrush, but all the vampires could easily see and smell them.

"Dear brother," Nettie coughed out. "Recognise your beloved sisters?"

Jasper sighed, but walked forward to halfway into the clearing. "Leave my family out of this, and have a discussion with me. There has been a misunderstanding, my old friends."

The two sisters scoffed, and Nettie removed Lucy's cloak for her, and then her own. Their deformed, burned and scarred bodies were laid out in clear sight to the enemy, still clothed in thin dresses suitable of the time they were reborn. The dresses were ugly - ruined by blood, mud and cuts - but matched perfectly with the women that wore them.

Jasper let out a gasp at the sight of his once, above average even for vampires, beautiful sisters.

"You did this to us." Lucy spoke in her near silent way. "Rather than killing us quickly, and burning us when you had the chance... this is what we have become. This is what you and Maria made us." She tried to put her cloak back on, but needed the help of Nettie. Once they were back to full cloaked, their army seemed to relax a little.

On the Cullen's side, Edward was attempting to push through a barrier that was in his way - surely they couldn't all be shields?

Then it hit him harder that a bullet train would hit a lamb - his own mate was within that army. He was going to be fighting against his own love of his life. There was no other way to describe how he felt, except that he felt sick to his stomach - as if he needed to go cough up a lot of human food.

Frantically, his eyes searched for her. Where was she among those shadows?

Bella was in fact hidden in the middle of the field with two of her siblings, under orders from their Mistresses to kill Jasper. Lucy had quickly signalled so while Nettie had helped her with her cloak. The army relaxing had been a distraction to hide the fact that three vampires had suddenly disappeared from their ranks.

However, Edward had noticed his mate was not among them. Slowly, he counted the numbers again. With a strong wave of panic that he hoped would reach Jasper before his words, he began to shout, "There's a trap-!"

Bella and her siblings sprang our from beneath her shield, pinning Jasper down before Edward could finish his sentence. Newborns were strong, but Jasper knew how to fight them. He flung one off his arm, but as he did so Bella dug her teeth into his neck, then ripped his head away from his body.

Slowly, it rolled until it stopped at Alice's feet.

Bella grinned, her own and some of Jasper's venom flowing out her mouth. "I vowed you would be my first kill, Alice! Shame I'd rather be an oath breaker than disobey an order, huh?" She taunted.

In a mad rage, Alice went to sprint forward but was stopped by Edward's shaking arm. "We must wait for them."

"Who?" Lucy's quiet voice stretched across the field, while Bella's siblings dragged Jasper's body behind the army and ripped it to pieces. Bella stood in line directly behind her Mistresses. "Oh wait," Lucy spoke again, with fake concern in her voice. "Do you mean the Denali Coven - the others traitors to our kind? I'm afraid, you'll be waiting a long time for them to come to your aid. Eternity, actually."

The Cullen Coven all made sounds of disbelief. Meanwhile, the wolves had had enough. They prowled into the field, growing and spitting, coming to stand around the coven.

"They brought their pets." Bella goaded.

With that, the battled began.

Seventeen newborns rushed at the six vampires and three wolves. They ran in an organised formation, confusing the enemy which had expected a frenzy.

The wolves were untrained in fighting, and Bella watched from her protective stance in front of her Mistresses as they were brought down by two or three of her siblings quite easily. The cut on her leg was still present, and she winces as one of her siblings put a foot wrong near the wolves - ironically losing that leg to a big bite before the dog was brought down. A few bites, and bone crushing 'cuddles' quickly killed them.

The Cullen's were a different matter.

Esme was clearing untrained, while Carlisle was much older and more experienced. He attempted to keep his mate safe, which meant he was prone to a distraction and quickly had his limbs ripped away - but kept alive to watch his mate be killed and thrown on the pile.

Emmett and Rosalie went up against ten newborns together, but when Emmett was injured on his leg it also distracted Rosalie. The pair were quickly subdued and killed. They did manage to defeat seven newborns though.

That left Edward and Alice fighting separating against ten newborns, their gifts helping them to predict each move, and avoid or counteract it.

"Go." Nettie gurgled to Bella. With a nod, she ran into the messy fray, both her shields up around her. Slowly, it seemed, she slipped through her siblings. She watched as Alice avoided a bite to the arm, and managed to deliver a hard blow to a newborn. Her sibling flew threw the air towards Edward, who ripped her in two and then continued fighting.

Smirking, Bella leapt forward, not being seen be either's power of senses, and ripped away Alice's head with her teeth.

Dropping her shields, she turned to Edward, who stood frozen among her also shocked siblings. He could see into her mind, finally. And with a pain-filled cry he realised there was no love with her for him anymore - whatever bond they'd held while she was human was broken. The newborns biting into him were not as painful as seeing into her mind, and he welcomed death while she smiled upon his tortured and broken body.

The last thing Edward ever saw, was an evil wink and a wave from the woman he once believed to be his forever love.

The bodies were piled up, brothers and sisters helped each other's to repair themselves. The piles were checked for missing pieces, though some were quite proud of their scars.

Eventually, only the sounds of happy chattering of the eighteen newborns and Carlisle's anguished cries filled the clearing.

Nettie slowly walked up to the lowly man, who had had his arms put back and was trusted just to sit, wallowing in his sorrow. "I almost feel sorry for this." When he raised his head to look at her, Nettie placed three burnt up fingers to his forehead, saying, "You shall forget we were ever here, and remember only how you killed each and everyone of your family members - including your mate - in a fit of rage that began when you visited your friends, the Denali clan."

Carlisle's eyes rolled back into his head, and he slowly nodded.

Lucy set fire to the pile of body parts, and turned to her children with a grin. "You have made me proud."

As the dark smoke drifted higher and higher into the air, five new red figures slowly approached.

Aro slowly removes the good of his cloak, smiling at the two sisters. "Very well done, my friends."

* * *

On the news the next day, the main article surrounded the story of a massacre, mass murderer and serial killer.

Several families had been linked by the police to have been killed all by the same person or group of people. When first thought to be a cult killing, it became a murderer covering his tracks with the use of fire after his first killing spree hadn't been enough.

It was later revealed that a Cullen was accused and found guilty of the deaths of his extended family, known locally and by his families as the Denali family, as well as his own wife, adopted children and some of the local Native American boys. Other deaths in the area had also been linked to him.

However, a tip off from an Italian main alerted the police to the fact he wasn't an American citizen - and so he was flew over to Italy to be dealt with by their authorities. Unfortunately, the private government owned plane crashed into the sea as it neared Italy, and everyone except the prisoner and one of his guards were recovered. Their bodies were not taken to land from the plane, as it was deemed too dangerous. In addition, the Italian government decided to wasn't worth it to spend money retrieving and burying a man who had committed such crimes. The bodyguard's family gave no comment, but released a statement saying they were not angry their family member had been left.

* * *

After some days of being underwater, Alec finally dragged Carlisle up from the plane crash, and then escorted him to Volterra. He was brought into the throne room, and made to kneel on his knees.

Aro slowly descended from his throne. "Have you seen the damage your temper has caused, my friend? The trouble we had to go through to cover for you? You nearly exposed not only our species but another supernatural species! In fact - you nearly eradicated it from the face of the earth. Do you have anything to say?"

Carlisle, at a loss, shook his head.

Caius smirked. "Have done with him. He's been found guilty be us and by the humans. I'm hungry, brother."

Aro ignored Caius. "Shall I just ordered you kill now then, Carlisle?"

"Aro..." Carlisle started, yet still could think of nothing to say. His eyes went around the room. He'd once lived and served here, all those years ago. How had it come to this?

All the eyes he met were blood red, but there were some faces he didn't recognise. One, he could only describe as lovely - with doe like eyes. She must be new, but important, as she stood up on the pedestal between Marcus and Alec. Perhaps the order of things had changed since he'd left though, he truly didn't know.

"Carlisle Cullen, you have been found guilty of the crimes of killing not only your Coven but also the Denali Coven, as well as three shapeshifters, the existence of whom you're also guilty of keeping from us. Do you deny this?" Marcus, instead, spoke.

Carlisle remain silent.

Taking to stand, Marcus continued. "Your choice of silence as testimony offers nothing to dissuade us from our verdict. One last choice stand before you - to join our ranks or to face death."

Carlisle's eyes raised upwards, not to Marcus's words, but at the hisses that sounded from above. The wives, hissed down at him, as well as two other female vampires he didn't recognise. They were cloaked though.

Carlisle lowered his gaze back to Marcus. He refused to take the easy route - though he doesn't remember his actions, something within him knew he'd committed them. With a sigh, he answered, "I'd like to join your ranks again, the pain of living with my actions is more punishable than death."

Marcus nodded, and retook his seat.

Aro smiles, "Then I would like to introduce to you the newest in our number." The lovely vampire Carlisle had noticed beforehand stepped forward it slowly, her cautious eyes upon Aro. She was clearly so new that she greatly feared Aro, and didn't truly knew how to follow his subtle orders. "This is little Isabella. Our most prized possession - a shield that can block out the powers of others and also can completely disappear from even a vampires senses. Her power can work just like any other shield, spreading out to protect any and all that she chooses. Isn't she a lovely prize?"

With a slow nod, Carlisle agreed. He'd die if he didn't, he knew that.

* * *

 **I was against using the plane crash scenario in light of the recent death of the footballer and pilot over the English chanel, and so changed it slightly so that everyone except the vampires made it out alive. I hope no one is against or offended by that.**

 **Fin, thanks for sticking around! If there is anything extra you would've like to have seen, feel free to tell me in a review or PM me about it - I may do Epilogue's or extra. But the story truly ends here.**


	11. Reply to guest reviews

**Replies to reviews - since a few are guests. May add to this :)**

 **Jet - It was Nettie with the gift ;) I don't think I have Lucy a gift... Anyway, Nettie's gift worked on Bella because she knew Nettie's name, and so could lower it. Also, she'd been trained since she'd been abducted by them to be very loyal - so she would trust Lucy and Nettie. Also again, none of their 'children' knew about Nettie's gift - they didn't need to know, and could endanger the pair if the Volturi found out. It was also why Aro thought he didn't want to touch the pair, 'so that he could see Bella in the flesh first' was actually so he didn't find out about her power :)**


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